Children's Home run by Manchester City Council in ManchesterOfsted inspection, 9 Sept 2026

Inspection report for children’s home: 1251073 1 Registered provider: Manchester City Council

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned and managed by a local authority.

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Information about this children’s home

It is registered to provide care for children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

It provides stays for up to 5 children under short break arrangements.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in February 2017.

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Inspection dates: 8 and 9 September 2026

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people, taking into account good

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Inspection dates: 8 and 9 September 2026

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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Inspection dates: 8 and 9 September 2026

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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Inspection dates: 8 and 9 September 2026

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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Inspection dates: 8 and 9 September 2026

Date of last inspection: 11 November 2025

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Inspection dates: 8 and 9 September 2026

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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Inspection dates: 8 and 9 September 2026

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 1251073 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

11/11/2025 Full Good 14/01/2025 Full Good 20/06/2023 Full Good 14/03/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: 1251073 3

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Summary of findings

Since the last inspection, 17 children have had overnight stays in the home. The children who could return home to their family, did so. Staff support other children into a new placement.

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Summary of findings

No children were staying in the home at the time of this inspection. However, staff encourage every child to provide written feedback about their time there.

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Summary of findings

Children enjoy staying in the home. Each child receives individualised care that enables them to make progress in their own way.

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Summary of findings

There is a stable staff team led by an experienced and child focused management team. The staff team feel positive about working in the home and talk about children with care and respect.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children like staying at the home, one child wrote, ‘It has been brilliant’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff provide effective support to children and their families. This is done through a combination of outreach work, family conferences, planned time in the home and overnight stays. Staff help children and families to develop the skills to work through any issues and maintain their relationships.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s moves into the home are well planned. Stays in the home can be planned in advance or in response to a crisis. In both cases, staff respond sensitively to the individual needs of each child. Staff buy favourite foods, and plan activities so that the child feels special from the moment that they arrive.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff involve children in decisions about their lives. They understand that some children can struggle to communicate their wishes and feelings. Speech and language therapists work with children to develop an individualised communication profile. Staff share the profile with parents and partners in education and the police. This ensures that children receive consistent approaches from the adults around them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are in good health. They have access to community and specialist services to support their health. Staff introduce good sleep routines and encourage children to take part in spiritual and physical activities that interest them. This includes going to local places of worship, nature reserves and cycling. Children have memberships for their local gym. This proactive approach supports children to lead a positive lifestyle. Inspection report for children’s home: 1251073 4

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Children can move into the home following a crisis and this provides them with safe accommodation at short notice. Children are kept safe by a stable staff team. Risks are well known by staff and there are highly effective strategies in place to support children.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Staff embed positive, relationship-based approaches into practice. These have been effective in de-escalating situations within the home. As a result, children feel settled and incidents are rare. Staff are aware of their responsibilities when children go missing from home. They follow clear processes, providing a well-coordinated response to locate children. When children return, staff welcome them back warmly.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Staff work closely with multi-agency partners, children and families to identify areas of support and develop risk assessments for each child. However, assessments do not include differences in professional opinion around a child’s vulnerabilities. Also, assessments do not consistently contain clear instructions about how staff should respond when risks arise.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Staff talk with children about their vulnerabilities. They support children to take risks appropriate to their age or level of understanding as part of their development. Children spend time in the community with their family and friendship group. If incidents occur, staff encourage children to learn from them. As a result, children develop their own understanding about how to keep safe and manage their feelings safely.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is child-focused and well-run, led by an experienced and committed management team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are experienced, dedicated and provide good quality care to children. Leaders and managers provide staff with clear roles and responsibilities that gives them a sense of shared ownership and accountability. Staff have regular reflective supervision sessions, and annual appraisals that focus on their progress and plans for development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Monthly team meetings provide the space to celebrate good practice and reflect on areas where they can improve. Staff recognise the positive impact this has on their practice. However, records do not reflect the depth of discussion that takes place.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is a well-established service within the local authority. Staff and managers have built positive relationships with partner agencies who value the role they play in supporting children and their families. One education professional said that the staff are ‘just great to work with, and the child is at the centre of everything’.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is a clear process for admissions to the home. Managers determine whether they are the appropriate service to support each child. They frequently challenge partner agencies if children are not suitable. However, on one occasion the registered manager Inspection report for children’s home: 1251073 5 accepted a child whose needs were outside of those stated within their statement of purpose.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The management team have effective systems in place to oversee the care provided to children. They evaluate all aspects of children’s care and progress against their individual targets. Staff review and update the targets with children, their family and social worker. The process enables children to understand the progress they are making. Inspection report for children’s home: 1251073 6

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person must take to meet the Care Standards Act 2000, Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’. The registered person must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)) 30 October 2026

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that records of team meetings are shared with staff in a timely manner. The records should capture the discussions that have been had in relation to lessons learned following incidents, all staff actions and expected timelines. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1)  The registered person should ensure that staff have the confidence to work in partnership with the placing authority to develop relevant plans. The plans should detail the actions that staff should take in response to each child’s individual risks. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5) Inspection report for children’s home: 1251073 7

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people, using the social care common inspection framework. This inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service, how it meets the core functions of the service as set out in legislation, and to consider how well it complies with the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’. Inspection report for children’s home: 1251073 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Town Hall Extension, Manchester M2 5DB

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Inspector

Caroline Bates, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1251073 9 achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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